


A Little Vacation to the Fire Nation

by The_GM



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Bending (Avatar), Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Fire Nation (Avatar), Firebending & Firebenders, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_GM/pseuds/The_GM
Summary: When Hiccup left on his 'little vacation forever' he didn't know what to expect, but what he certainly did not was to end up in a land of bending, fire, and war. A land that houses both his family's past and a potential future.Aka: An ATLA HTTYD crossover where Hiccup runs away during the first movie and ends up in the Fire Nation.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 90





	1. Prologue

**18 years earlier**

Vikings considered themselves experts when it came to ships, and for good reason. Ships had always been a vital part of life on Berk, they were an island after all. They used them in war and peace, for travel and fishing, in almost every aspect of life they were indispensable. As such, they were able to tell very easily that the ship that just washed up was definitely NOT from the archipelago.

Starting from the bow, the ship had plain, undecorated sides with no rower holes. The ship had a trio of masts, but the most unorthodox part was the sails that seemed to have been positioned along the ship’s length and could pivot. The vessel was undoubtedly foreign even to the most novice shipwright, drawing quite a crowd to the beach it had landed on.

Unfortunately, the hopes of studying this fascinating boat were squashed by the fact that it was laying in pieces on a rocky beach. It had washed up the night before, and the Vikings were inspecting the wreckage headed by the newly appointed Chief Stoick the Vast. The ship seemed void of life and most of the Vikings were examining the remains of the vessel looking for unusual trinkets, including but not limited to a cracked spouted pot, some small ceramic cups (some of which destroyed), and a piece of paper rolled up by wooden handles on either side and though most of the writing was ruined had depictions of various stances that looked to be some kind of strange and intricate dance. 

But it was Stoick himself that made the most shocking discovery. As he lifted a chunk of wood in what used to be the ship’s cabin he found a person. This person, a woman, was unlike any he had ever seen. Sprawled across the floor as she was, her face was hidden, but her hair was pitch black, a rare color here where hair ranged from porcelain blond to dark brown. In addition to the unusual color, her hair was pinned up in a knot in the back, a hairstyle not practiced in any tribe Stoick had met. Her clothes were no less strange; primarily a dark red with lighter red elements and dark trimmings. Flipping the woman over he was given another shock. She was undoubtedly foreign but above all, she was gorgeous. Stoick had never seen anyone, no anything, so beautiful in his entire life. As her stunning visage held him paralyzed, she started to stir, golden eyes staring up at him in shock.

* * *

Her head pounded as she approached consciousness. She remembered the storm, it had moved in too quickly to avoid and threw her ship like it was a feather. She fought the fuzziness of her vision to assess the damage. The masts were broken, sails in tatters, and the hull broke into fragments on the rocky shore, un-sailable and probably unsalvageable too. As the haze in her mind continued to recede she finally noticed the giant of a man looming over her staring at her with equal amounts of shock. And giant was no exaggeration, for spirit’s sake he was probably over seven feet tall, and he had a massive red beard covering most of his face. And as she took stock of the situation, she saw all of the other enormous men rummaging through the remains of her boat. They were all massive! She was considered imposing for her height back home at 5’9 but some of these men completely dwarfed her at over six feet each. Who even were they? If they were of any of the other nations she would probably be in cuffs by now, and they most definitely weren't fire nationals or colonials. Where even was she? Any initials fear she had was shoved aside by the burning desire for answers as she nervously raised her arm in greeting.

Months past and the people she now found herself living with were so intriguing- barbaric and uncivilized, but fascinating nonetheless. She was surprised to discover they were not affiliated with any of the four nations. In fact, they were so far off the chart they didn't even know what bending was! It was all so interesting. And their religion was hilarious, filled with wild stories of their god’s shenanigans that were borderline insanity. Though she would never risk sharing that opinion out loud at the risk of losing any goodwill she had gained. As she began to accept her fate, she assumed a name more traditional to the tribe, picking the one she found most humorous, Valhallarama, and it shortened to Valka, which sounded close enough to her own name. When she had boarded her ship, she had wanted to explore and travel the world, and now she was certainly getting quite an interesting trip. Over time, she got to know and care for the people she had found herself with. And she started to develop feelings for the chief, who after he had found her had been nothing but kind to her and helped her make a home out of Berk.

She only had three problems. One - she couldn't bend. Not because she physically couldn't, no she was still perfectly capable of it, but she knew that it would get her instantly labeled a witch and thrown out. Their fire god, Loki, doubled as their god of mischief and along with some kind of fire giant named Surtur were apparently destined to help destroy the world, so it was probably a good thing to not be associated with either of them. Two - she was stuck here. Her map was ruined and their ships were so primitive they couldn’t sail against the wind without a crew of rowers. And finally, three - dragons. They were hunted back home in the fire nation too, but they were still respected. They were the original firebenders after all and she had even met one before she had set sail. They were such beautiful and wise creatures and killing them was such a repulsive thought. Here though, dragons were different, they were more like animals and raided the village for food. But they were still dragons, sacred beings despite all that. She tried, again and again to get the villagers to see reason and peace but it never worked. That was the worst part.

A few years after she had arrived, she married Stoick, but she still hoped that one day that she could go home and introduce her family to her husband and soon-to-be child. The fire nation was constantly expanding, and she dreamed that one day she would wake to see steel and steamships on the horizon. Maybe if she was lucky, it would be her older brother’s ship, but any would do. That she could help broker peace between her new and old homes, and help elevate the barbaric people she had grown to care for to the level of her homeland. And as her son was born she hoped that he would one day be able to see the great cities of his ancestral home.

When her son Hikroh, or Hiccup as he was called by Stoick and the village (she had found their tradition of horrible names funny until one was given to her son), was born she hoped that he would be a bender. She knew it was a bit selfish, putting her son at the risk of an angry religious mob or even just the practical issues of having a young, inexperienced fire bender living in a wooden village, but she trusted Stoick would accept him and she wanted so badly to be able to teach her son bending. So she prepared a traditional test to discover fire bending abilities, an ancient tradition passed down through generations. Placing a variety of flammable materials with him, she left him alone in a room of their hut and waited, hoping that he would produce a small flame, a sign that he too could bend. What she got instead was a large flame that quickly spread to the entire room, and then to the adjacent rooms quickly engulfing the whole building. Within minutes half the village was gathering and throwing buckets of water to douse the flames, but for each bucket of water they threw it quickly evaporated and flames engulfed the area. Valka was certainly impressed by her son's abilities but letting him go any longer would probably result in the complete collapse of the house. So using her own bending she cooled and weakened the flames to a point where the water could douse them. Once the danger had passed she ran inside to find the boy who caused the inferno laughing and playing in the ashes.

Valka loved her son, doted on him constantly, and she resolved to one day bring him back to the fire nation. He had more of his father's hair, although it held the brown tinge of her brother’s hair, but he had her eyes, eyes she also shared with her mother. The rest of his face was a perfect mix of her and Stoick. He not only had the makings of a master firebender, but also displayed potential for a near-genius intellect. He reminded her of some of her family who worked as engineers in the imperial military. Once he developed finer motor control, she started teaching him calligraphy. He didn't get very far, but she managed to teach him his own name, despite him not understanding what the symbols meant. Looking back, she was definitely glad she was able to do that before that fateful night.

It was one unfortunate dragon raid that ruined everything. A dragon had broken into her house, worse yet, into Hiccup’s room. She rushed to protect him, drawing fire into her hands to ward off the dragon. But what she found was shocking. The large four-winged dragon was playing with her son, not attacking. And as it turned its eyes to her, she saw proof of everything she knew about dragons. Peace was possible, they were intelligent creatures, not as much as the ones back home but enough. It must have sensed something about her, as it started to sniff and inspect her and she wondered if it could sense her bending, bending that came from the dragons themselves. 

But Stoick entered at just the wrong moment. Axe high he charged the dragon. Valka tried to stop him, to get in between him and the dragon, but she had never extinguished her flames, and in her panic fire shot out, burning Stoick’s beard. And at that moment, he looked at her like he never had before. 

“Stoick, please wait, listen to me. I-” She was cut off abruptly by the enraged Viking.

“No, you Loki-spawned DEMON! JOTUNN! You’re one of THEM!” And with that, he charged her and the dragon, axe raised. The dragon panicked, and in its haste grabbed Valka. As it flew off, Valka couldn’t help but call out her son’s name. The son she knew she would never again be able to get to. She would be killed on sight now, they thought her a demon. In one moment, she lost everything. 

She didn’t know where this dragon was taking her, and even if she did get free she had no idea how to get back to the fire nation. If she could find her way home, then she could try to leverage her family's influence to get a military expedition out here. From there she could find her son and try to explain what happened and make amends with Stoick with enough protection that she wouldn't be killed on sight

But she knew she couldn't. She could spend decades looking and never find home, and with one wrong move, she could end up in water tribe or earth kingdom territory, where she would surely also be killed or imprisoned. So with that, the last of her hope was extinguished and she cried. Cried for the home she would never again see. Cried for the loss of the man she loved. Cried for the son who would grow up without knowledge of his homeland. She cried for Hikroh.

* * *

Hiccup was never a child one would consider ordinary by Viking standards. For one, he looked different. His hair was a normal auburn and his skin was a typical Viking tone, but that was it. His face screamed of his foreign ancestry and mother, a mother who was only spoken of in hushed whispers, and his eyes were a mix of green and gold. He was shorter than most, and far scrawnier, too. And then there was the way he acted. He was smart, far more so than any Viking considered normal. He created things and doodled while most Viking children were swinging around the toy weapons their parents gave them. And on all his doodles he signed them the same way, with markings that the Vikings couldn’t read. Hiccup didn’t quite know what they meant either, he guessed his subconscious remembered it from when he was a baby. He had asked his father about it once, but he had yelled at him, sending him away, and they'd never spoken of it again.

Stoick recognized the text all right, more than recognized, it was burned into his memory. It was the text of the demon woman who seduced him, the boy’s mother. But he loved his son and would make sure he didn't fall into his mother's dark ways. He was relentless on the boy, driving him to be a Viking, act like a Viking, do Viking things. But as Hiccup failed to meet his expectations over and over, Stoick's hope dimmed. So he stuck the kid with Gobber, hoping the boy might at least find a place in some sort of Viking profession.

Hiccup took to smithing like a natural. The most fascinating thing about his work though was the metal. Hiccup always managed to get the fire to the perfect temperature to melt the steel quickly without ruining it, and his blades were quenched and tempered to perfection, creating blades that could hold a razor's edge as good as a master smith. But Hiccup and fire always had an… odd relationship. For one thing, he’d never been burnt by it. Sure he’s had his fair share of burns from the forge, but always the hot stones or heated metal, never the fire. Even when he really SHOULD have been burnt to a crisp, he got out unscathed. No matter how close he got, the fire never touched him, almost as if it moved away from his touch. Even if he was in the middle of a burning street in a dragon raid, he never got burnt, and he never felt fear of the fire either.

Hiccup had never felt like a Viking, and he wanted to fit in so badly, but he failed each time he tried. He was lost in this world. Until he shot down a night fury. Unlike the Vikings, the dragon accepted him, embraced him in a way he never felt before. And eventually, he flew away on the back of that dragon. He chose the southwest. South away from the cold and west away from the rest of the Viking tribes. A direction that unknowingly set him on a direct course for the fire nation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Octobot for betaing!


	2. Dragon Training

From the moment they met, Toothless knew Hiccup was different from the rest of his flock. For one thing, he looked distinct. He was skinnier, had oddly colored eyes, and even his face didn’t hold the same features as the rest of them. And then there were the less obvious things (to humans, at least), like his scent. He was a mere hatchling, yet he didn't smell of his dam, and only faintly of what Toothless assumed was his sire, the rest of his scent was just smoke, metal, and fire.

Fire. It was this last part that made Hiccup so different. He didn't smell like the human’s wood fires, he smelled of dragon fire, the smell of sulfur and flames wafting off of him. His boy was most definitely dragon, Toothless just couldn’t figure out why. Hiccup never expressed his inner flame, not in their time in the cove, it was like he was suppressing it. But nevertheless, he could create fire.

* * *

Leaving the Isle of Berk was one of the hardest yet easiest choices Hiccup had ever made. He was never accepted by Berk, nobody would miss him. Nobody except his dad and Gobber, but if they knew what he had done they probably wouldn’t hesitate to ship him off. He had spared, befriended, and helped one of the most dangerous dragons alive. So as the wind roared in his ears and slapped against his he only looked back at Berk once. He saw the woods he grew up exploring, the village that had been both a home and prison, the cove where he made his first real friend, years of memories, and a life he was giving up. He was letting go of a life full of rejection and shame to explore the world with his best friend. He would miss Berk, but there was a better life out there for him and Toothless.

As the two hopped from island to island in the archipelago, exploring the wild, Hiccup grew more and more certain about one thing. He didn't know why, and he certainly didn't know how, but he could create fire. It was so strange to him, he could shoot fire like a dragon, but not. It wasn't just one type of fire he could produce, it was different every time he tried. One time he would produce a continuous stream of fire, and the next he would be throwing a short fireball. He had no idea how to control it, but he had an idea of how he might be able to figure it out. 

So, Hiccup started to formulate a plan. Dragons had fire, obviously, but more importantly, they knew how to use that fire. So the theory was simple, watch a dragon, try to copy what they did as well as he could, and that's how he would be able to control his weird fire-powers.

The duo scouted out a few islands to find a dragon. Hiccup had at first asked Toothless to simplify the whole process, but even the mere mention of the nest had Toothless growling with adamant refusal, so they had resorted to scouting islands manually. It took weeks, but finally, the island they were over seemed like a good candidate. It had its own pond, was fairly sized, and had distinctive burnt areas of forest hinting at some sort of dragon activity. 

They landed in the island’s forest and finding the dragon after that was a simple matter, a large red monstrous nightmare wasn’t a particularly stealthy dragon, after all. All Hiccup had to do now was wait and watch the dragon to see how it made its fire.

Simple, right?

Well, it would be as long as that dragon didn't notice him, but of course, with his luck it did. And that is how Hiccup ended face to face with a pissed off monstrous nightmare. And if that wasn't perfect enough, he had asked Toothless to wait on the other side of the gods-damn island because he was worried about him being seen. Him, Hiccup the Useless, was worried about a Nightfury, the most elusive and stealthy of all dragons, being seen. He was able to see just how much of a miscalculation that was as the dragon before him started to gather its fire to roast him alive, or at least try. Despite Hiccup's horrendous control over his abilities, he was at least hopeful that he would be able to redirect the nightmare’s fire to a less vital part of his body. As the nightmare shot a gout of fire, Hiccup raised his hands throwing out his own flames, creating a flaming clash as the two spurts met. The nightmare recoiled, eyes wide with surprise and curiosity.

He was an old dragon. And as the saying went, with age came wisdom, knowledge accumulated over the years he had lived. But this was new. A Viking, no not a Viking, with flames like a dragon. He had heard stories, stories of humans from the far south who worshiped their great wyrm ancestors, and in return, they were taught the secrets of fire. But this far north none of them resided, did they? But he couldn't deny what he was seeing. This boy, he displayed an inner fire, and now that he was examining the child closer he could smell it on him too, along with the unmistakable scent of a shadow wing. This boy was special, he could tell.

Hiccup watched the shocked dragon in front of him for a moment, before it started to sniff at him. Strangely enough, shooting fire at the dragon had somehow calmed it down, ironic. So, going out on a limb Hiccup reached out his hand and turned away in a gesture of trust. It was only a second before he felt the nightmare's scales against his palm. When he turned back to the dragon he looked into its golden yellow eyes and he felt as if his very soul was being laid bare. It was at that moment that Toothless, responding to his friend's previous distress, came bounding and snarling at the nightmare in front of him. Toothless growled out a warning to the dragon that was far too close to his best friend for his liking.

"Calm, Shadow Wing. I will not hurt the boy." The nightmare barked at the fuming night fury before him but backing down slightly to appease him. "He is special, I assume you've noticed that yourself though."

Toothless huffed, "Of course he's special. He was able to rebuild my tail and return me to the sky," he gestured to his prosthetic tail and saddle. 

"What I was referring to is his fire," the nightmare gave a roll of his eyes, "but that is an impressive feat as well."

"His problem is that he can't control it very well. That's why he was watching you."

"Wise choice. I have heard stories of ones like him." That made the night fury's ears perk up. "People from the far south who learned to control flames from our great ancestors. But I had assumed they were just legends, he's the first of them that I've met."

Toothless’ ear-flaps stood on end at the comment, eyes flicking between Hiccup and the nightmare, bouncing on his paws in an excited dance. "Can you teach him? I would, but my flames seem very different from his." 

"I can try." 

Hiccup didn't know exactly what the two dragons were talking about, but from the way they were gesturing and the inquisitive hums he could hear he guessed it was about him. That suspicion was confirmed when the nightmare turned to him and slowly started to approach. Hiccup’s eyes shot to Toothless who was giving him his namesake gummy smile. Hiccup gave the nightmare a hesitant smile as it leaned close to him. What he did not expect was the nightmare to rest its head against his forehead, and what he expected even less was to get some sort of... feeling? From it. It was like images, visions? Focusing on them they seemed like movements, a sort of uploaded muscle memory for his body to follow. The nightmare lunged forward, not at him, and shot a gout of flame before looking back at Hiccup. Taking a deep breath, he tried to copy the move, using the strange visions in his head as a guide. 

The nightmare thrust his head out for a low bite with its wings held high. Hiccup put out a low kick and extended one arm down in the same direction and the other back above his head. And to Hiccups excited astonishment, let out a very similar burst of flame. Hiccup continued to copy the moves, drawing from both the physical dragon in front of him and the images in his mind. He started moving on almost instinct, he planted his lower hand on the ground as a pivot point for a sweeping kick that let out a low wave of flame, a high punch delivered a fireball, he followed the dragon’s movements in a strange mix of fighting and dance as he continued to produce flames. The sequence ended as the nightmare lit the rest of its body on fire, and Hiccup threw his arms back, exploding his own flames out from his whole body. He looked to the nightmare who was giving him an approving look and to the night fury that was bouncing around in excitement at what he had just witnessed. Hiccup was doing it, learning how to control his fire like a dragon, and now the doors were open and the possibilities were endless. 

The nightmare followed the dragon/human duo on their new quest, a quest for Hiccup to master his fire. They sought out other dragons to assist them. The precision jets and bouncing step of nadder, the chaotic destructive power of a Zippleback, and the heavily rooted defense of the boulder class gronckle. Hiccup tried on several occasions to copy Toothless' blasts, but each time he tried he couldn't quite get it right. They were both confident that he could do it someday, he just needed to develop his skills further. 

Word eventually got around the dragon community of this strange dragon-boy hatchling. One that could mimic the fires of nearly any dragon. Many dragons sought the hatchling out. Some felt bad, he was a mere fledgling with no sire or dam to teach him, so they took it upon themselves to assist his guardians. Some wanted to try to push the hatchling to his limits, to see what he was capable of.

* * *

It was a leisure flight for the duo. Their friends left behind for some quality time to themselves in the air. No matter how much time they spent in the sky the thrill never left, that went for both the boy and dragon. The sky was home for a night fury, but there was one dragon that could contest their claim to the sky.

A storm was moving quickly in their path, flashes of light and a violent roar of thunder emanating from the shrouded mass of sky. The two changed course to avoid the storm, but defying all meteorological precedent the storm changed course right after them with building speed. Even with the speed of a night fury, it wasn’t long until they were engulfed by the clouds, encasing them in the dark void of the storm.

Lightning flashed and spiraled like luminescent daggers and the thunder that followed was like a berserker warcry. Turbulent winds disoriented the duo as they were thrown about. It was as if Thor himself had decided to torment them. The storm fought them with an almost sentience as they battled gale-force winds and dodged streaks of lightning. 

As they struggled to escape the storm, lightning outlined an unmistakable silhouette in the clouds, eliciting a deep growl from the night fury. Above them was a dark shadow of a wyvern with violent spikes protruding from its wings, head, and spine with lightning arcing between them. Its wide-open maw presenting its built-up charge of electricity as the duo's only warning of the impending attack. Dropping into a barrel roll they barely managed to avoid the brunt of the strike, the air around them tingling with the discharged static. Another blinding white streak and accompanying percussion followed a second later as the two flew away from the strike, but as they dashed, fighting the wind, the lightning made a break for the metal stirrups sending a painful jolt of electricity up Hiccup’s leg. Spinning in mid-air, they got their first good look at their assailant. 

It was a skrill, one of the few strike-class dragons known to Vikings, and the most dangerous dragon second only to the night fury itself. Toothless glared at the lightning-bending dragon with contempt, a disdain for the natural enemy of his species. But the skrill itself only had eyes for the boy, the boy he had heard so much about, the fire-making human who consorted with a night fury. An arrogant child who thought himself equal to the dragons who foolishly taught him.

Another blast of lightning narrowly missed the duo. Toothless loosed a plasma blast and Hiccup his own stream of fire, but the attacks were defused in the wrath of the storm, the charged air leaving them only a mild annoyance to the skrill. The next blast of lightning wasn’t so easy to dodge while fighting the wind as it caught the tail control rods sending a painful rush of electricity through them both. It was in that moment that they both knew there was no running from this, the storm and skrill were too powerful and already trapped in the storm like this there was no way to escape the wind and lightning. The sky may be the night fury’s domain, but this storm was the skrill’s. The skrill could control the lightning, redirect it, and as Hiccup watched the dragon with streaks of lightning being drawn to it like iron to a magnet, an idea began to form. One look in the eye of his dragon companion was all that was needed to communicate this revelation.

The next strike was smaller and they didn’t dodge it. Hiccup felt the lightning course through his body as he focused on it. The way the electricity ran through him as its conductor, moved through his body on seemingly predesignated paths, he focused his will on that energy and felt its path change. He knew what he needed to do, and he knew if he failed, they would both die.

The next moments seemed to move slower. The skrill charged up yet another blast of lightning and the white stream launched and branched off like a demented tree as it moved towards its target. Hiccup held his arms out receiving the bolt in his open hands. He could feel it, the intense energy of the lightning as it entered his body, but he didn’t let it move unhindered. Concentrating the flow he directed it through his body towards his stomach, his own energy, he felt the power of the bolt rip through him, exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As it hit his stomach, he shot his arms back out, expelling the energy in his own bolt against the skrill. 

Unlike the night fury, the skrill couldn’t move fast enough as it was hit by the might of its own strike. The lightning diffused back into it through its conducive bones unharmed but the look of shocked awe was apparent. This boy, a _mere hatchling_ , had redirected lightning, _his_ lightning, back at him. But it wasn’t over yet, reaching out his arms and closing his eyes in a moment of pure focus, the scraps of static in the air around Hiccup started to move, bolts of lightning made their way into his hands, starting at mere jolts but quickly escalating into bolts at the level of the skrill itself. Lightning arced between his hands as his eyes opened to observe his feat. The boy held the lightning for a moment longer to marvel at it before drawing it into himself to be released, his control of the lightning almost identical to the skrill itself.

Blasts of lightning were shot and reflected, a volley of electrical power that would make Thor himself blush. But with the skrill’s main attack countered and faceted with the flurry of night fury blasts, streams of fire, and lightning, the skrill recognized the losing battle, fleeing in the cover of the storm from its opponents. 

Toothless looked up at his best friend, brother even, with pride as they flew out of the storm. And Hiccup looked back at him with a look of pure joy. He had come so far from the sad hatchling that he was before their journey. One they touched down back on their island camp, Toothless promptly threw Hiccup off his back and gave him a bath of licks. Now it was time to teach Hiccup to shoot blasts like a night fury. It would take time and practice, but he would do it. 

They continued their journey south. The wise old nightmare eventually departed. He had taught the hatchling much, and he felt that he had given all he could teach. So he left the two that he had been with for so many months and left the rest of Hiccup's training to his dragon brother. 

Eventually, the regular sight of small island resting points was disrupted. In the distance, they saw a landmass larger than any they had seen before, and from the air they could see the lights of human civilization. It was a city larger than Hiccup had ever seen, with incredible architecture and in its shipyards giant ships that leaked steam from their masts and appeared to be made of metal. 

And hanging on those ships was a banner with an insignia of fire. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Octobot for betaing!


	3. Enter Azula

Hiccup and Toothless landed on an empty beach close but out of sight of the city. Spotting a nice cave nearby they set up camp just as the sun started to peek over the horizon. Hiccup intended to sneak into the city the next night as he was in desperate need of new clothes and supplies. His clothes were ragged and covered in scorch marks from his time training and his hair was long and wild. He had grown a bit too and had to steal from the occasional settlements they encountered to replace his ill-fitting garments as well as any other material that he needed, including enough supplies to make a basic riding mask. The journal he brought with him was almost full, filled with images of the dragons and moves he had learned about during their travels. Toothless was just as eager to get a rest from the non-stop flying but was concerned about his brother going into unfamiliar territory where he couldn't follow. But what neither of them realized, was that a lone figure had spotted them land in the early morning light, watching from the palace balcony as they landed in the distance, her perfectly symmetrical black hair blowing in the wind.

* * *

Azula made her way down to the beach a few hours later, an escort of a few guards trailing behind, but ordered to stay off the beach. If her eyes hadn't deceived her, she wanted this honor all to herself, the guards would only be necessary to carry back the corpse. Footprints led into a cave, smaller than the size she knew dragons to be, but the shape was correct. It was probably a juvenile, but that was acceptable. Less of a fight, an easier victory, and she would still get the glory.

The sight that greeted her inside the cave though was not what she had anticipated. She could confirm it was a dragon but certainly not the kind she heard about; it wasn't long and serpentine but more feline in body shape and its wings were larger. But even stranger than its anatomy was the saddle strapped to its back with a boy leaning against it. Reddish-brown hair, tangled and wild, hung down into his face and over his eyes. His clothes were burnt and torn up and overall he looked like a feral savage. She supposed she would have to kill him too. No loss though, just some barbarian. Rotating her arms and two fingers pointed out she began charging her lightning, blue plasma streaks illuminating the cave as the crackling echoed off the walls. The dragon shot up at the sound, knocking the boy to the ground, waking him up in the process.

Hiccup woke up abruptly at Toothless's disturbance as he was knocked to the ground, and not a moment too soon. At the cave entrance, he saw the silhouette of a person, their arms cutting through the air with a crackling line of lightning following behind them. Wait, LIGHTNING! He shot up, eyes wide as the figure pointed two fingers at him and lightning arced forward. Throwing himself in front of Toothless, he put up both hands drawing the bolt to them. From the light of the flash, Hiccup could make out more of the figure in front of him. It was a girl, significantly shorter than himself, wearing ornate clothing in shades of reds, golds, and blacks. Hiccup froze for a second, hesitating on what to do with the lightning that now arced between his palms. The girl's eyes widened, in fear, shock, both, or more emotions he couldn't discern, but he wanted to know how she had produced the lightning. There was no storm to draw from and it wasn't too powerful compared to the torrents the skrill had sent at him, but he had never met another human who could do anything resembling what he could. Decision made, he thrust out his hand blasting the lightning into the ground where it dissipated into the dirt. Once the lightning was gone her eyes hardened, and to both his excitement and surprise, blue fire flickered to life as she sent two fireballs sailing towards him from her outstretched fingers. Hiccup ducked and threw a sweeping kick and a wave of fire and the girl threw herself to the ground, landing on her hands before springing back up into a fighting position.

In a heavily accented voice, she yelled out of the cave as a few more volleys of flames, her blue, Hiccup's orange, and Toothless's purple, were exchanged before five armored men ran into the cave. Their armor was the same color as the girl's but lacking the gold accents and included a face-covering helmet. They all took up a rigid stance around her creating a battle line and proceeded to throw fireballs producing punches. Both dragon and rider did their best to dodge the onslaught, but the sheer amount of projectiles soon overwhelmed them. Blasted back into the wall of the cave and cornered, the soldiers slowly approached.

"Knock them out, I want them alive." He could barely understand the girl's voice through her accent, and right as he processed what she said, a boot met the side of his head knocking him out cold.

* * *

The world was spinning as he reentered the land of consciousness. He jolted up only to find his hands chained. He looked around as he shook the last threads of sleep from his heal, he was in a metal cell, some kind of jail. And standing outside of that cell was that woman. She watched him silently, standing tall with hands clasped behind her back. She had an indisputable air of authority to her, and if the men with her were soldiers as he suspected, then she could be some kind of royalty. "Who are you?" Hiccup's voice was hoarse, crackling from disuse over the past few months, having mostly communicated with his dragon companions with growls and barks.

"I don't think you're in much of a position to ask questions here, Hikroh." At his confused expression, at both the accent and name she smirked, "Yes, we found your journal. We're not illiterate, we could read your signature. Though you may very well be, based on that gibberish you have written and the way you talk."

"How did you produce lightning?" Hiccup asked, a bit shell shocked at what she had just said but still caught up on what she had done in the cave. "And your fire, how was it blue? I've never met anyone else that could control fire like that!"

"Don't play stupid. You've obviously been well trained in firebending. Most of the best masters are part of the army, but there are a few who aren't. Who trained you? I've heard of one, Jeong Jeong, who deserted the army. But you did redirect lightning, so was it Iroh? He's been out for a few years now."

"I don't know who they are, sorry." He slumped against the bars as what she had said sunk in. There were more people like him, firebenders as she called them, and it was common enough here that she had a military made up of people who could do it. And there were masters, human masters, not like the dragons who taught him, that taught others. But he was in a cell, disadvantaged, he saw nothing he could gain from lying. "You called it fire bending, sorry, I've never met anyone else who could. The dragons trained me... WAIT TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup surged forward against the chains, "WHERE'S TOOTHLESS?! WHERE'S MY DRAGON!"

Azula was curious, very curious. The boy had a strange accent, harsh and guttural. And his bending style was odd, not the rigid well formed military style, but also unlike her own style, much less precise but still elegant in its own way, and far wilder. She was good at getting information out of people, and as such knew when they were lying. He didn't seem to be and the concern in his voice was genuine. He was a powerful bender, so she filed this act of weakness away for later reference.

"The dragon is fine. We noticed the saddle, how did you manage such a feat? And what did you call it, Toothless was it? Not a very fitting name. Are you blind as well as illiterate?"

"Please, just take me to Toothless, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Fine then, guards, take him to the dragon." The girl waved her hand dismissively as guards came into the cell and hauled him up by his elbows. As he stood, he realized that even though they were full-grown men he was about as tall as them, even taller than many. Odd, back home he was the shortest one around. But couldn't focus on that, the only important thing now was getting to Toothless. He was in a foreign city, in jail, they had his dragon, they could firebend, and some sort of royalty was interrogating him?

Once he was deposited into a new cell, he looked up to see Toothless in chains. Scrambling to his best friend he started whispering into his ear flaps as the dragon let out a croon of relief at their reunion.

"So, about your earlier offer. Where are you from, Hikroh?'' He had nearly forgotten he was being interrogated for a second, but he held to his word and answered the question.

"I'm from Berk."

"Berk," she rolled her eyes, "you know now is not the time to be making things up, Hikroh."

"I'm not making anything up, it's an island to the far north," he decided to skip on his usual sarcastic remarks about the place, "it's one of many in an archipelago. And why are you calling me Hikroh?"

"Hm, an archipelago, I'll have someone check our maps later. And we're calling you that because that was the name on every one of the pages in that book. The only legible thing in there. Is that not your journal?"

Hiccup stood stock still, voice barely above a whisper, "You can read that...?"

"Of course we can, your calligraphy is a bit sloppy though -"

"I CAN'T EVEN READ THAT!" His excited shouts cut her off. "I've gone my whole life never knowing what that meant. I've just been signing with that ever since I could write! That's your language?"

He too was cut off, "If you didn't know it was a language, why do you know it and what were you writing in?"

His earlier anxiety was morphing into geeky enthusiasm as he paced the cell with his arms flailing in near-exaggerated gestures. "I was writing in Norse. We have the same spoken language more or less, but our cultures have had no contact for generations, so the written languages probably split. But how did... WAIT! I think my mother taught me that. She died when I was young, but I heard she was an outsider..." His enthusiasm began to drain away at the mention of his mother, obviously a sore subject, Azula noted.

Azula continued to watch him with steely eyes and poised posture, but a hint of mirth made its way onto her features if one looked close enough. "So, let me get this straight. You're from an uncharted chain of islands somewhere to the north, your mother was from the fire nation, and your dragon taught you firebending?"

"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup responded dryly.

"Well, I guess that settles this matter. Good day-"

"WAIT! Can we go?" Hiccup asked, "We didn't break any laws, at least to our knowledge. We can leave the city, you'll never see us again if you want."

Azula thought for a second. This boy, Hikroh as his journals noted, was a powerful firebender. He also knew at least one rare technique that as far as she knew only her uncle invented. And due to his lack of any other knowledge of bending she presumed he didn't know of any history or of the war. Quite frankly he was feral, and his naivete made him a blank slate. Combine that with his knowledge of apparently training dragons, she didn't need to ask about that as it was quite obvious, he could prove to be very useful.

"Fine. Guards release him, and I trust the dragon is docile," he nodded vigorously, "and the dragon, but keep an eye on them." She turned back to them, "Don't leave the city. Guards take him to get him cleaned up, we can't have him walking around in this state." And with that, she left.

As she left the cell ward, she turned to another guard. "Tell my father what happened, and I want documentation of anyone who has left the fire nation within the last thirty years, specifically women. I want to know who this boy is."

Hiccup was unshackled, and after much convincing and Toothless giving his best puppy dog eyes, was also allowed to follow unchained. Hiccup knew that dragons could be irresistibly cute one second and savagely terrifying the next, but was more than willing to leverage the former. But Hiccup still needed some answers.

"So, you guys. Where exactly am I and who was that?" He got some odd looks for that one.

"You're in the fire nation capital. Hard to believe you don't know that." the guard chuckled, "and that was Princess Azula. Second Born child of fire lord Ozai." Hiccup guessed that the 'fire lord' was some sort of king, just fitting with the theme of this place. Everything was about fire, the clothes, the insignia, the name of the place. I mean, what else was there?

"Funny how everything revolves around her. What else is there, an earth tribe? At war with the water kingdom?" He didn't expect his sarcasm to get a serious response, just the classic annoyed dismissal he always got from Stoick and the tribe.

"Well, kind of, there are the water tribes and the earth kingdom, who we are at war with," Hiccup's mouth fell to the floor at that eliciting yet more laughs from the guards. "You obviously were pretty cut off where you're from."

The guards he was stationed with turned out to be pretty amicable people. They showed him a map and to Hiccup's shock and amusement, there were indeed water tribes on the poles and an earth kingdom to the east. He couldn't read any of the labels though, so was left in the dark about the four points marked with white. They took him to a barber for a definitely long overdue haircut, washing, trimming, and pulling it up in some kind of knot. He was also given some new clothes, dark red pants, and a lighter red sleeveless tunic with black trimmings. It was fairly simple but nice. He was fine showing his arms, everyone around here seemed small, like him, and he had developed some muscle due to months of dragon-riding and physical training. Seeing himself in a mirror, a piece of glass that reflected things (what a novel invention) he had to say he looked pretty good. I was also pretty warm here, which was nice compared to Berk's arctic climate. The shoes were odd though, made of a flat base held to the foot with straps and exposed the toes, definitely not the boots he was used to. He would have to see about getting a new pair.

* * *

Azula got her reports pretty quickly, no one wanted to make her mad after all. One of the many perks of being feared. The most interesting report was the missing person report, The most telling of which was a woman named Mahka, who apparently went missing after a failed expedition north, and was supposedly a skilled fire bender. And her father had a similar name to the boy, Hiroshi. So it seemed possible to assume that this mysterious boy was related to them, so she waved off the nearest guard, relieving him of his guard duty in favor of collecting more information on the matter.

But break time was over, it was time to consult her father.

The throne room as always was dimly lit, the only source of light being the flame wall around the throne. Halting before the throne she bowed deeply, spine rigid.

"So, Azula, I hear that there has been a new arrival," Ozai's voice and the reputation that preceded it was enough to inspire terror in most men, but Azula could take it.

"Yes, father. He is from a land far north and rides a dragon. He's a skilled bender and could even redirect lightning like an uncle," Ozai raised his eyebrows at the mention of the rare technique, "but he claims he was trained by his dragon, and he had no knowledge of anything from any of the four nations. He even writes in a different language. His name is Hikroh, and I believe I found his mother's family."

"Interesting, keep an eye on the boy. See if he can be of any use, especially with the dragon," Ozai had a sinister smirk, "I don't think I need to give you any more lectures on how to command people, do I?"

"No, father, you've taught me well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, sorry for the long delay! I didn't intend for that to happen but unfortunately, I had a bit of a clog in my production line. But on the bright side, I have plenty of chapters waiting in the wings! I hope this was worth the wait.  
> And as always, thanks again to Octobot for the beta reading!


	4. Family Matters

The guard she had sent to further investigate his story reported back to Azula after her meeting with Ozai. The family did indeed live in the capital, and they did indeed lose their daughter twenty years ago. They were a noble family with a few men in service of the navy. They also were a fairly tall family, which was a point in their favor on this matter. The guard had talked with them about their potential missing family member and they were apparently very eager to find out if they had an extra grandchild. 

So Azula, like her father had asked, went to check on the boy. He cleaned up well, all things considered. His hair was long enough for a knot, and he was dressed in nice, if simple, clothing.

“Ah, hey, Azula, how do I look?”, a smirk plastered on his face as a thin veneer to hide his awkward attempt at small talk.

“You look perfectly passable as not a barbarian,” which was true, “and I see you learned my name, well done. But it’s princess Azula to you. Now, about your mother,” his smile fell, “does the name Mahka ring a bell to you?”

He scratched his chin as he thought, “Well, my mother was called Valka up north, they sound similar, I guess.” 

“Well, her family lives here in the capital. Mahka went missing about twenty years ago, around the time when you seem to have been born, and in the same direction.” 

Hiccup stood stock still, mouth gaping open like a fish. “I may have more family?”

“Yes, that is what I said.” Azula rolled her eyes, a gesture Hiccup noticed was quite common for her, “They’re a noble family, now, if you would, please come with me. I’ll take you,” looking over at Toothless, “er- you two.”

Hiccup followed her out, surprised to discover that he had been in the palace complex the whole time, which had their own dungeons underneath of them it seemed. As they approached the palace gates, a palanquin awaited which Azula entered. It was fascinating to Hiccup, the fire nation was obviously rich and powerful, and their elite especially so. They even had people whose job it was to carry the nobility in luxury. Impressive. That level of wealth along with the technological prowess that was obvious from the ships he had seen from above, the fire nation was shaping up to be a place of wonders. Hiccup walked next to Toothless following next to the palanquin. As they moved through the streets, people gave them a wide berth, whether because of the dragon, guard entourage, or princess he wasn't sure. But after minutes of walking in silence, the awkward silence started getting to him.

“So, Azula, how old are you anyway?” He was honestly extremely curious, she held the air of authority of a general but looked young, the makeup obscuring her true age.

“I’m 14, though I don’t quite know why it matters to you,” she simply stated, “I’m assuming you’re around 16, you look around the age of my brother.”

“15,” he corrected, “so you have a brother, is he in training to be the next Firelord? Or does succession work differently here?” More information about this place would be helpful, as he was still mostly in the dark about how things operated. He hoped that his supposed family here could fill him in on things. 

“Actually, he was banished years ago by our father,” before Hiccup could question what happened there she continued with obvious scorn. “He angered our father who in retribution challenged him to an Agni Kai. But he was such a shameful coward that he was banished and sent to capture the Avatar if he ever wanted to return. He was always a failure, and my uncle fatso went with him.” Agni Kai? Avatar? Each answer he was getting was only opening more questions. Before he could continue the line of questioning they drew to a stop in front of a sizable house. It wasn't nearly as grand as the palace, but still large, many times the size of the chief's hut in his village. The place was also pretty close to the palace itself, but she did say they were nobility, so that lined up.

Their guards knocked on the door and an elderly woman answered. She had white hair tied up in a bun and stood close to his height. Her eyes had a golden tint similar to many of the guards and Azula, but flecks of green. She scanned the newly arrived assembly with clear apprehension before her eyes locked firmly on Hiccup, their eyes met as tears began to well up in her eyes. He was gestured forward and approached the woman, his body shifting awkwardly and his hand began scratching the back of his neck.

* * *

When Yuna had heard that her long lost grandchild might have returned, she didn’t know what to think. Hiroshi was skeptical, but Yuna was hopeful. They never knew what happened to their daughter, but to hear that her son may have made his way back on a dragon? It was shocking. But they had agreed to meet the boy. There was always a fledgling of hope it was true. And as she looked into the eyes of the boy in front of her, _her_ eyes, Mahka’s eyes, she knew it was true. He looked so much like her. She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer as she reached out and hugged her long lost grandchild.

Hiccup didn’t quite know what to do. He was suddenly being hugged by this woman. Though, in a strange way, it felt right. He could see similarities between her and him, most notably the eyes. But as he looked into the house he saw a man approaching. He too was old, probably her husband, but when he looked at him he could see even more bits of resemblance, and the man obviously could too. This all felt so surreal, but at the same time, he was starting to believe it. The man approached him slowly as if Hiccup was a ghost that would disappear if he moved too fast, and the woman never let go of his hands, like she feared he might bolt the second she let go. He was a bit taller than Hiccup, but not by more than an inch. When he got within arms reach, he too pulled Hiccup into a hug. Hiccup returned the embrace and he felt his cheeks start to get wet, eyes prickling with tears.

Azula watched the sappy display with utter disinterest. It was so utterly useless in the grand scheme of things, the only dynamics that were truly stable were ones built on fear and order, none of that wishy-washy family love, but she supposed it was an interesting enough scene to watch unfold. It was useful to her long-term plans to have Hikroh here. She raised a hand to signal her servants to start walking but was stopped before she could. Holding one of her hands was a wet faced Hikroh, what could he possibly want? 

He looked at her, eyes shining with tears, a smile etched on his face. “Azula, thank you.” That was certainly not what she had expected. Every other person was holding their breath, knowing her reputation, but she guessed she could let this slide.

“You’re welcome.” With that, she pulled her hand away and was off.

Now Hiccup was standing out on the road with his two grandparents he didn't know existed and Toothless. An awkward silence hanging in the air after the first intense emotional moment they shared.

Hiroshi was the one to finally break the ice. “So, you’re Hikroh.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Yeah, I guess that’s my name, here at least,” he rubbed the back of his head at their confused looks. “I guess that’s what mom named me, be it wasn’t what they called me back ho-, I mean in the north.” Berk was an odd subject for him. He broke their most sacred law and befriended a dragon, and if he returned he would certainly be exiled. But it was still where he grew up. “Back there they called me Hiccup.” That got an even stranger look from them. But what better way to break the ice than a one-ton dragon, as Toothless started sniffing at his grandmother. “Oh, and that’s Toothless.” He grabbed Toothless in an attempted headlock and he gave a gummy smile. And like most people, that was enough to win their hearts as they showered a delighted Toothless with pets and scratches.

Yuna still seemed to be on the verge of tears every time she looked at him. “Oh, dear, you look so much like your mother. Come in, we want to hear all about where you come from.” Hiccup was led into a spacious living area of the house. Hiroshi called over some people, servants from the looks of it, and commanded them to make ‘tea’ whatever that was. But wow, servants. Nobody on Berk was rich enough to have servants, let alone multiple from the looks of it. Hiccup sat down with his grandparents and Toothless curled up around him. The servants brought over a steaming pot of liquid and some cups and placed it on the table in front of them. Hiroshi poured out three cups and gave one to Hiccup. Hiccup looked at the drink confused. It smelled like herbs, and why would you serve a drink steaming hot? 

“Are you not going to drink your tea? It’s quite good,” Hiroshi interjected, knocking Hiccup out of his thoughts.

“Oh, um, I’m sure it is. It’s just I’ve never actually had tea before.” he averted his gaze as they both looked at him like he had three heads.

“How have you never had tea before? It’s everywhere!” Hiroshi made a large gesture with his arms, almost splashing his cup. 

“They just never had it back where I’m from,” he said as he took a tentative sip of the tea. It was sweet and it tasted like herbs, nice herbs though. Definitely preferable to mead.

“Well, this is jasmine tea, there are a whole variety of teas. Best drink around,” Hiroshi gave a laugh, “but what about you Hikroh, what’s it like where you're from, and how did you end up down here.” It was strange to hear someone sound genuinely interested in what he had to say, but it gave him a warmth inside that had nothing to do with the hot leaf juice he’d just consumed.

“And if it’s not too much to ask, what about your mother,” Yuna asked, voice full of apprehension. 

“Oh, uh, I don’t really know. Back on Berk, the village I’m from, she went by the name of Valka. But she disappeared when I was a baby. Think the only thing I have left of her is my signature, and that’s how Azula figured out my name. I didn’t even know it. I heard rumors though, about how she was a demon or carried off by a demon, I don’t know for certain. My dad never answered any questions about her willingly, but he had a drunken fit one time where he referred to her as a fire jotunn, a fire giant in their religion, and how he cast her away.” 

“What type of crazy cult were they?” Hiroshi angrily interjected, “fire giants? What nonsense. They’re insane. Savages.” Hiroshi threw down his fist, scorching the wooden table. Hiccup shifted in his seat and looked away, not really sure how he felt about his grandfather insulting his entire culture. He didn’t have particularly much love for it either, but it was still what he was raised on. But if it was the reason his mother wasn’t around Hiroshi had every right to berate it. 

After Hiroshi’s outburst, Hiccup turned the conversation towards other things in his life and their conversation went along smoothly. They wanted to hear about his life and it felt nice for once to just let it all out. He told them about Berk, the people, his childhood, his engineering, blacksmithing, Toothless, the dragons, his travel, training, everything. It was getting dark by the time he finished up. They also filled him in on the stuff he was missing. What an Agni kai was, spirits, the Avatar, and everything he knew to ask about the place he now might be living in for the foreseeable future. Overall, the fire nation seemed to be a pretty nice place. Advanced, prosperous, rich, and in a war with the earth kingdom. That last part wasn’t great but it seemed to have settled into a stalemate for the last few years. They also told him about his family, he had two uncles, one an engineer in the imperial navy and the other a newly promoted admiral. They sent messenger hawks to both to tell them of Hiccup’s arrival.

* * *

Late in the evening, the door to the house busted open and a man ran into the house. He had amber eyes like Hiroshi and a top knot hairstyle like nearly the entire fire nation. He scanned the room, first spotting the dragon and then Hiccup, before quickly approaching and embracing him. “You must be Hikroh, I’m your uncle Saiken.” he smiled at Hiccup, and Hiccup couldn't help but reflect some of that enthusiasm. “And this must be Toothless. I never thought I would see a dragon in a house but there's a first time for everything!” His eyes examined the dragon, coming to a stop on the saddle and tailfin. “And this, this ingenious little contraption. It’s some kind of prosthetic?” Hiccup nodded as Saiken approached eliciting a small growl from Toothless as a signal to back off. “I assume he needs that fin to fly, how’d he lose it?”

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I kinda… shot him down with a contraption I built. I found him, freed him, and built it to let him fly again. From there he kinda became my best friend.” 

Saiken looked between the two before he let out a short laugh and clapped his hands together. “Looks like the engineering talent runs in the family. That’s quite a prosthetic there, and he looks fast. How did you manage to shoot him, and what did you build that had that kind of power?”

Hiccup explained his designs to Saiken, more about the tail than the bola launcher, he still felt guilty about that despite Toothless’ obvious forgiveness. But they were both engineers and they got along very well discussing ideas. It turned out that Saiken helped design the steam-powered ships he was marveling at earlier. He would have loved to meet his other uncle, Zhao, but he was currently off on some military mission to capture this avatar, who was apparently a threat to the fire nation. 

The servants had set up one of the guest rooms for Hiccup and Toothless. In the center of the room was a giant bed surrounded by curtains, but what caught his eye was a portrait on the wall. In it, was a much younger Yuna and Hiroshi, along with a younger child who looked like Saiken, and an older teen who he assumed was Zhao, and there in the middle was a teenage girl. She had black hair and gold eyes with green flecks. He sighed. Now he at least knew what his mother looked like.

Exhausted from the day’s events, he settled in for bed, said bed luckily being big enough to fit a night fury as sleeping together had become a bit of a nonnegotiable over the course of their travels. It was so much softer and the sheets so much smoother than anything he’d ever felt. He thought he may be able to get used to this. He had a family here, one he got along well with and had enough power to mitigate any problems having a dragon might cause. He could definitely get used to the fire nation. 

He could get used to being Hikroh. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, meant to post this chapter a couple of days ago.  
> As always, thanks to Octobot for the beta reading!


	5. The Life

Hiccu- no,  _ Hikroh _ , he had to get used to being called that, sat at his desk mulling over an old tailfin schematic. Nearby, Toothless watching him from his rock with lidded eyes, head resting against the slab. Well, he was  _ trying  _ to focus on the design but his mind kept wandering to all the events that had been happening in the last few days.

To say moving into the fire nation was a bit a transition would be the understatement of the century. Not only had he switched between three radically different lifestyles in a mere few months, there were so many seemingly mundane and insignificant skills he was completely clueless about. One absolutely essential thing was reading. Thankfully, his uncle was more than willing to give him some tutoring in between bouts of discussing engineering.

He had finally been able to get a good look at those metal ships. They were even more massive up close, way larger than any Viking ship which looked like dinghies in comparison. Though that feeling of awe at everything around him was starting to become normal, he didn't know if he would ever truly be able to get used to the extravagance of the fire nation. But even the extravagance of the fire nation at large paled in comparison to his new ‘home’ life. He’d heard that his family was noble, but he didn’t realize what that truly meant when he first arrived. His household had  _ servants _ , and not just one or two, but an entire staff of them! They ranged from housekeepers to chefs and they even lived in their own back wing of the house. The house itself was huge, with multiple floors and more space than ten huts from Berk put together. It really put into perspective how far he had traveled. The lifestyle out here was almost unrecognizable to Berk. And to top it all off, there was plenty of roof space to lounge on with Toothless.

The food had some familiar elements. Seafood was big in both places, but in the Fire Nation everything had so many more spices, and mutton was generally replaced with poultry as the main non-aquatic meat. There was also rice. A lot of rice. But the difference in cuisine made sense considering the incredible variety of animals on this continent. The archipelago’s wildlife was mostly limited to sheep, boar, birds, and of course, dragons. But here, the variety was vast, from turtle ducks to tigerdillos, most of which simply didn’t exist in the archipelago. Because of this massive amount of biodiversity, people didn’t seem to mind Toothless, especially after he flashed them his puppy dog eyes. But how much of that acceptance came from his family's status he didn’t quite know.

Then there was the fact that firebending was so common. He went from not knowing if anyone else in the world could do it to seeing children playing in the street by shooting fireballs at each other. Not everyone was a bender, but it was still a common sight and the whole culture appeared to be built around it. From Agni Kai’s when settling disputes, to the mere fact that most high military officials and the royal family were benders, it was clear that bending was an element in every facet of life. Even his family had a line of benders, his grandfather, the uncle he had yet to meet, and his mother apparently. 

He winced at the thought. That hurt. Not that his family had other benders, the fact that he seemed to have so much in common with his family was great. But it hurt he would never meet his mother. He had a family here, a great one, he had an uncle he had a lot in common with, his grandparents were wonderful people, and he would most likely be able to meet his other uncle after his campaign. 

It was a big change from living on the meridian of misery. There were things he missed, but his grandparents were amazingly accommodating people, as they were just happy to have found him after all that time. His bedroom, a converted guest bedroom, was fitted with a desk and small workshop area and rock large enough for Toothless to use as a bed. That desk, and the wall space directly adjacent to it was quickly filled with various notes, pictures, and designs for future creations, many of which were inspired by the advanced technology of the fire nation. 

A knock on his door jolted him out of his thoughts. At his quick ‘come in’, his uncle Saiken entered the room, joining him at the desk and immediately noticed the design. “Hikroh, what are you working on there?”

It was still odd for Hiccup to hear people actually interested in his creations, but it was a nice novelty. “Oh, it’s Toothless’ prosthetic tail fin. I’m trying to improve the design of it.”

Saiken grabbed the paper from the desk and examined the design, he couldn’t read the norse runes but the mechanical schematics were clean and transcended the language barrier. “What exactly is wrong with it?”

Taking back the blueprint he let out a sigh, “Well, nothing in particular, but I was on a pretty tight schedule when making the original, so it’s probably not the best it can be. Oh, do you know of any fireproof fabrics?” 

Resting a hand on his chin Saiken considered for a moment, “There are materials, but they’re probably either too heavy or inflexible for the tail. Why do you need that?”

“The tail is made of leather, it works well enough but the problem is it doesn't react well with fire ,” Hiccup explained, “it deforms and shrivels up, and you know, dragon, firebending, being hundreds of feet in the air, flammable material, they don’t mix.” 

Saiken laughed, “yes, that does make sense,” and then he thought for a second in silence before responding, “I would assume dragonhide is fireproof, but you probably don’t have any of that.”

“No, I obviously don’t…” Hiccup trailed off, “but Toothless sheds! His scales are fireproof and protect his skin, I could use them somehow. The only problem is flexibility…”

His musings were picked up by Saiken, “Not if you could dissolve the scales or crush them up and use them in a paste and apply it that way.” And with that, the experimental side of both men lit up as they tried to figure out a way to do just that to some of the shed scales.

Many failed attempts, bad ideas, and ruined bowls later, they finally cracked the code. All it took was the right helping of heat applied to a mixture of crushed scales and night fury saliva to create a black paste that could protect.

The two engineers looked on with pride at their work as both Hiccup’s fire blasts and Toothless’s plasma failed to burn, melt, or deform the leather.

In the coming days they also tried to design an automatic tailfin for Toothless. But those designs were always found burned with Toothless sleeping on the ashes and the only prototype they ever got together quickly became a chew toy for Toothless before he dragged out his saddle and tailfin, demanding a flight with Hiccup. Needless to say, they weren’t so oblivious as to not get the hint.

* * *

A few days later, he had another encounter with Azula.

He didn’t really know what to think of the girl. She  _ had  _ shot lightning at him and possibly had been trying to kill him the first time they met. But a first meeting like that was nothing truly strange to Hiccup: Toothless, the nightmare, the skrill, and a few other dragons all either tried to or almost killed him the first time they met. He gave them all a pass on that, and Toothless gave him that same courtesy, so he figured he would apply the same logic to Azula. After that initial misunderstanding, she had done nothing but help him and Toothless. She had let them go free and helped find his family. So when she showed up at his door, it was a surprise to be sure, but overall a pleasant one.

“Hello, Hikroh.” She stood at the door, poised as ever.

“Uh, hey, Azula, how, uh, what are you doing here?” At no point more than now had he hated his nervous habit of stuttering and his awkward tendency to not know what to do with his hands.   


“You said that you were never formally trained in fire bending, but you showed skill back in the cave,” she stated matter of factly, “so come with me, I want to assess that.” He had no idea what  _ that  _ meant, but he followed her anyway.

Toothless didn’t know what to make of this human. She too, like Hiccup and many others here, had an inner fire, but hers was different than most. Her flame was stronger, similar to Hiccup himself, and burned hotter, plus she could produce lightning. That was almost unheard of amongst dragons, while some could produce electricity only the skrill could harness true lightning, but not produce it without a storm. She was undoubtedly dangerous, and she carried herself like a hunter, but at the same time, he couldn’t smell any ill intent on her. He couldn’t really smell  _ any  _ strong emotion on her for that matter. She was an enigma, but his Hiccup seemed to like her well enough, so he presumed her safe.

* * *

Azula was the first to break the silence while they traveled. “So, how exactly did you get a dragon to be your mount?” 

While the question wasn’t unexpected, the sheer casualness in her tone surprised him, but answered regardless. “Well, he’s my best friend, and he lets me ride with him because of that.”

Her eyes narrowed, “But that tailfin, I see the prosthetic, why is that?”

“He was… shot down, wounded. And I fixed his tailfin with that.” His eyes shifted as his head fell, and Toothless gave him a gentle nudge and croon.

“So, you shot him down and felt guilty about it?” Hikroh’s head shot up and whipped to Azula.

“How did you-?”

“Well, it was obvious,” Azula explained, “you shot him down, wounded him, fixed his tail so that he could fly but only with you and he fears losing that too much to disobey you.” Honestly, the explanation was obvious to her.

“WHAT! NO! It’s nothing like that. Yes, I did shoot him down, but it was war. When I found him, I freed him,” Hikroh went on, “and when I saw he couldn’t fly, I built him this tail to help him fly. I’ve offered him an automatic tailfin to let him fly alone, but he destroyed every prototype and design that me or my uncle ever made.” Hikroh let out a sigh before continuing somewhat softer, “If I had killed him I could have had everything I ever wanted, but because I didn’t, I got everything I never could have dreamed of. I have a best friend, a home, a family. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Toothless jumped up and licked his face, Hikroh held back a laugh, “I guess it’s the same for you too, bub?”

Azula looked at the duo and rolled her eyes. He was either delusional or just plain ignorant. If that dragon didn’t fear him, he’d be dead, abandoned the moment he lost his utility. It was a rather simple concept, everyone knew what dragons were like. 

She led Hikroh to the palace courtyard. If he was going to be useful in the future, she needed to know his limitations and strengths. He had his dragon and he was at least seemingly competent at combative firebending, but that was all she knew for certain.

“So, what are we doing here?” Hikroh from the other end of the courtyard, staring in awe at the palace in front of him. 

“Well, we need to assess you somehow, so how about a little duel?” she said nonchalantly.

Hikroh stopped and looked at her for a second with a blank stare, before a look of mild panic came onto his face. “Wait, do you mean an Agni Kai? Aren’t those pretty serious?”

She rolled her eyes, a gesture she noticed she was doing a lot in this boy's presence, “No, not an Agni Kai, just a regular sparring match. You seemed like a competent opponent back in the cave, so why don’t we see what you can do? Why don’t you make the first move.” 

Hikroh didn’t really seem to know what to think of this request, but he prepared himself nonetheless. There had been plenty of times he had needed to fight on his journey, but never against another bender. 

Sharp gold eyes watched his every move. It was obvious that he was skilled to a degree, but by how much was still up for question. 

He balanced lightly on his toes, ready to jump at a hair trigger, and arms up, both ready to strike and guard at the same moment. And with lightning speed, he threw out his arm and a white hot jet of fire, easily sidestepped by Azula as she shot her own blue fireball back at him. More volleys were thrown as Azula sent a wave of fire at Hikroh with a chop. 

His eyes widened at the blue arc, dropping and landing on one hand before swinging his legs back up with a fiery heel. Blue and orange flames clashed as the waves met, Hikroh continued to pivot on his hand, swinging his legs in circular kicks throwing out more fire with increasing ferocity. Sweeping legs and clawing hands creating an inferno around him. An inferno that was easily countered by Azula, and with two fingers swung down a wrath of fire, breaking his wall of flame and knocking Hikroh to the ground

“Well, that was certainly fun,” she said as Hikroh got up and brushed himself off. Azula had learned what she needed, for now. He seemed to have multiple different distinct styles he switched between, ranging from quick and precise to a feral fury. It was not a firebending style taught anywhere in the fire nation. Instead it was a form of antiquity, developed similarly to how the fire nation’s ancestors must have learned. Primitive, but powerful. “You’re obviously not used to fighting against other benders, though we can fix that. See you here in a few days, and I can help you with some training.” If he was going to be useful in the future, he would need to be able to fight other benders, so some training was a must.

Hikroh looked at her a bit flustered for a moment before speaking, “Ah, sure. I’ll see you in a couple of days then!” Before he mounted up with Toothless and took off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm BACK! Sorry it has been 3 months. Life happened. And I know this chapter may feel a bit underwhelming considering the wait. That's one of the reasons it's taken so long to get this out. There were other reasons this took so long too, but I won't get into them. Again, an apology. Chapters hopefully should get back to a more normal schedule (or at the very least, not three months).   
> Once again, thanks to Octobot for betaing!


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